Do you think Prince William is upset by the fact that his engagements this week have gotten outshined by not only his brother, Prince Harry, but also his father, Prince Charles? There was no press at all for William’s United for Wildlife meetings in Switzerland on Monday while Harry got lots of glowing press for his appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show, and William’s Women’s Football Team visit got little press while Charles got a ton of press for his visit to Ireland (which I’ll cover later). William attended a Tusk Trust 25th Anniversary Dinner at Windsor Castle last night, and still he got little coverage. Granted, most of the royal reporters are in Ireland with Charles, but still. I wonder if William notices how little coverage he gets when he does events solo, and I wonder if that bothers him.
Anyway, William the Petulant attended the gala, which consisted of 300 guests, where he gave a (rather long, actually) speech. I can’t find a video of the speech, which is a bummer. I always like seeing The Petulant read his speech from his giant sheets of paper.
The Petulant said in part (full transcript here):
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“Tusk’s story, of course, does not end with it’s twenty-fifth birthday – far from it, in fact. The plunder and destruction of Africa’s natural endowment remains one of the greatest challenges facing the world – and it is growing worse by the week. Over the last 100 years, the abundance of the world’s species has decreased by almost a third. But the picture in the last few years has seen a genuinely unprecedented rise in the numbers of animals being slaughtered for their body parts.
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“With the illegal trade on the rise, our response to it must rapidly evolve. The time for words has long gone – we must see action. And we must do so with urgency. There is no doubt that strong political leadership and real, sustained commitment from the international community is the key. […]
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“International cooperation is our strongest defence and all of this is a step in the right direction, but there is so much more to do.
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“This is where the crucial diplomacy carried out by Tusk is so important, as they who work tirelessly on the ground – often behind the scenes – to help address this complex and multi-faceted problem.”
I don’t want to be negative because this is one of The Petulant’s better speeches – with no “We must protect the wildlife so my son, Prince George, can see the animals when he goes on safari” – but… It’s kind of ironic that The Petulant talked about how the time for words is over, because all The Petulant ever does for Africa’s wildlife is say words (ie. give speeches). He’s no Harry – who’s actually getting in there and spending three months working with animals and three weeks shadowing a top vet in Africa.
Even though Duchess Kate did not attend this event, several ladies brought the fashion to liven up this post. Most notably among them was singer Katherine Jenkins, who wore a navy Grecian-inspired gown. Much like Ellie Goulding, Katherine Jenkins attends royal events as often as she can. I’m surprised she didn’t make a play for Harry – because she’s beautiful and blonde enough for that to have made sense – but she didn’t. She is now married to an American artist named Andrew Levitas, and is four months pregnant with their first child. Katherine looked very beautiful, and I thank her for bringing some pretty fashion to this otherwise boring event (I think the photographers took more photos of her than they did of The Petulant).
The other lady whose fashion I’d like to highlight is this woman on the arm of Steve Tisch. I don’t know who she is unfortunately (she’s labeled only as “partner”), but she wore one of Duchess Kate’s favorite designers, Jenny Packham. She wore a blush pink version of the Bardot dress from the 2015 bridal collection. I think she looks very pretty. I’ve looked at Jenny Packham’s website, and I must say I really like a lot of their designs. Sadly, Kate always wears the most boring dresses from Jenny Packham.
Links: Express. Daily Mail.
The Petulant went to see Mad Max: Fury Road in London the other day. I think it’s funny that a mere two weeks after the birth of Princess Charlotte, The Petulant is already spending four days away from his wife and babies.
The Petulant hosting a gala dinner at Windsor Castle got me thinking to last May when he hosted a gala dinner there for the Royal Marsden Hospital, which got me thinking to the last time The Petulant did anything for the Royal Marsden Hospital (it was that gala dinner). The Petulant has not done anything for the Royal Marsden Hospital for an entire year, with nothing on the schedule. It’s one of his oldest patronages (he’s been president since 2007), and given how light his royal work load is, it’s sad that he can’t find the time to visit them (but can find time to go to football matches and make them count as “work”).
In a Prince Harry update: Harry joined his friend Guy Pelly, Pelly’s wife, Lizzy Wilson, and her parents for dessert at a restaurant in London. Is it a bit weird that a single man went to dinner with a married couple and her parents? I would feel like a fifth wheel, but maybe that’s just me.
Let’s end on a high note:
HARRY! I wanna kiss that face!
William reeks of hypocrisy about huntin . Why should the press follow him? He’s sullen, spoiled and cantankerous. He won’t engage them.
As far as him being away from Char and George and Mumbles, good. If he was my husband I would find him projects to keep him away from me
Thanks KMR for the picture of my husband.
This comment made me laugh. I adore my husband of 30 years, but have been know to pay for a special out-of-town photo class, etc, just to get him out of my hair for a day or two. However, our kids are grown now and I would have been very hurt if he had taken off for 4 days right after the birth of a child. Kate has plenty of “help” with the kids, but little actual support from her husband. That makes me sad for her. My guess is that she is getting what she THOUGHT she wanted…but I can’t help but wonder how she feels now.
He may be lazy, sure, but not supportive to his wife? I think he seemed like a good father in the photo session in front of the hospital with George, I mean, that he actually spends time with his son, and now his daughter as well. Many dads have to work whilst a baby at home, and in this case, with the nanny and staff plus granny around, I don’t think the mother should feel lonely. And they will surely have a long family holiday soon.
It’s impossible to judge from the pics on how their marriage is going.
I think William has been shirking his royal duties for ages, while still taking all of the benefits of being a Prince, but at the same time – if he wasn’t doing duties right now, he would be accused of being lazy. But because he IS doing duties, he’s being accused of having a difficult marriage. I really do feel like it’s a lose-lose for him on this blog for certain commentators. Now might be the only time he can do some royal duties, since he’s off from his job.
I think it’s good he’s actually doing something, and as I said in the article I think this was one of his better speeches. It had actual facts, thanked the people who actually do stuff within the organization, and didn’t mention saving the animals so George can see them when he goes on safari at all.
But I do think it’s funny that William keeps complaining about privacy and wanting to spend time with his family, and then leaves for four days only two weeks after bringing the new baby home from the hospital. I understand sometimes things can’t be helped (he had to work in London, Windsor, and elsewhere and Norfolk is a three hour drive away which would be a terrible commute to do every day for four days straight), but that doesn’t stop his ‘saying one thing and then two weeks later being away’ from being funny to me.
Life’s unfair. I don’t get millions of dollars from the taxpayer every year for showing up to a dinner and making a bland hypocritical speech every couple of weeks, in between playing rounds of polo or whatever it is he does. I know many people with two kids who don’t have a country pile to live in with half a dozen staff waiting on them hand, foot and finger under the benevolent dictatorial regime of their mother-in-law. I consider it lose-lose b/c I have to do fifty times the “work” he AND his wife do, without any help or monetary reward at all. Life’s unfair.
Actually, Maggie, I’ve been pretty surprised to see him out. I think he did an investiture the other day too. I thought he was on paternity leave until June 1?
William did stuff Mon-Thurs: Switzerland; investiture; football thing; investiture and Tusk Trust dinner.
The “job” is busy work. His “job” hasn’t even started – he’s been “training” for quite some time. It IS odd to read that he will take 6 weeks paternity leave only to have him leave his family for 4 days. How many other fathers take paternity leave and then go work a second job? The “paternity leave” line is bullsh&t in this case. Just like “maternity leave” is for Prince William’s wife”. Leave from what?
They like to use working class language for folks who are not working class.
I don’t think William is trying to get away from his kids or doesn’t like them (I think the comments re:George weren’t actually negative and more ‘parenthood is hard work’ / babies are loud common ground general stuff), and I don’t know about the state of his marriage.
What I do know is that William has been putting off taking on royal duties – which is the complete opposite of what they told us he would be doing when he quite his previous job, moved to London and renovations on KP began.
Change of heart, (or they knew all along and were giving us spin) William suddenly took another gap year. And unlike Harry who is still taking on engagements during his, and when he’s not in the UK will be doing work in line with his cause in Africa, William was MIA in his gap year – in fact for more than a year. During that same period numbers wise he was almost on par with Harry who spent almost half the year in Afghanistan. And the only reason William was able to be on parr was because of the royal tours him was on, where even an airport appearance counts to his tally. People got frustrated then we were told he’s studying at Cambridge, a short tailor made course.
I just find his recent flurry of royal duties and the timing suspicious.
Is it because of the backlash and cynicism over his 6 weeks leave?
Is it because of all the (mostly) positive media attention Harry’s been getting and ‘William costing us a fortune for nothing / step aside’ comments people keep posting (DM)?
Or is he trying to get away from the Bill Middleton tag and ‘March of the Middletons’ frustration – until the recent Micheal thinks Carole’s too much pieces DM articles usually stayed clear of blatant negative spin on Carole.
If these engagements were always part of the plan they could have announced that William will take 2 weeks paternity leave and, because he’s (supposedly) been able to finish his training ahead of schedule, he’ll be taking on royal duties till his next bit of training in June.
The timing just makes me wonder if Jason is trying to counter all the ‘William does nothing’ negative sentiment or if William is over life in bunker AH. Sad but I can’t take the Cambridges at face value anymore.
The interesting thing re announcing these engagements is that usually KP announces William and Kate’s engagements one to two weeks ahead of time – it’s typically two weeks but when Kate had a flurry of engagements earlier this year before the birth it became one week ahead of time. But with this past week’s engagements, they did not announce William’s engagements at all until a short time before. Odd.
You’re welcome for a picture of your husband, Rhiannon. 😉
He is so like Charles around the eyes. Bam! There go the paternity theories out the window for sure.
I know! I always want to skutch his cheeks too. And what a genuine smile.
I hope the press are ignoring his events. With how uncooperative he is, I’d much rather read of Harry or Charles.
I hope so, too. I would have thought the press would be all over his events, seeing as it’s the first since the baby was born and they would want quotes about the baby, but then the press largely ignored him. I think it possibly had to do with the fact that KP did not announce his engagements two weeks, or even one week, in advance. And so the reporters were all in Ireland.
I hope the press is ignoring him, too. He really is unimpressive at this point.
The Petulant One is reaping what he’s sown.
The dinner with the Pelly’s is odd, but maybe he was doing them a favor by hanging out with Pelly’s in-laws.
Any reason why the Prince couldn’t spend a little time at the “Small Ships” memory trip,these are the generation that have made it possible for him to spend his time dining out on ‘Tusk Talk” instead of recognising the tremendous effort applied to the ships and all those brave men.Just saying.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is “small ships” memory trip?
Read”Dunkirk 75th Anniversary celebrated with flotilla of little ships” (DM 2 days ago)……sorry I called them small ships.Only 2 of original rescuers left,I thought William would have been ideal to perform some sort of part in the very big celebrations.Hope this is more understandable .
Left comment re-small ships, will learn eventually how to use the site correctly .
William will also be handing out some sort of trophy next week. Is this considered working hard or hardly working?
Are you kidding…. it’s such hard work. I mean those trophies can weigh like 5 pounds. He has to lift it, turn and then hand it to someone else. William could injure himself in doing so. He may pull a muscle. Therefore he is putting his life at risk. What a great man in doing so!! He is putting other’s well being above his own. He life is really hard work :).
Or he could drop the super heavy trophy on his foot, or break a nail while picking it up, or he could see his bald spot reflected in the surface… There are so many risks involved!
As second in line to the throne, I doubt Prince William has ever been the fifth wheel. I’m assuming Pelly wanted him there to impress his in-laws.
William is all talk regarding the Tusk Trust and his family. He is involved in very little for both of those things.
William was not at the Pelly dinner, Harry was.
So….about Katherine whatshername possibly making a play for Harry or William….the BF before her husband was one of Harry’s friends. One Adam Bidwell. I’ve always thought that Katherine whatshername has always been hunting for a trophy posh life and made an effort to cultivate those types of social friends. Her eventual husband seems an anomaly for her, but not much is known about him except that he is American. Maybe he is trophy posh American?
I hope the press continues to avoid the petulant’s events even if they don’t have a built in excuse like covering other tours/royals.
Let’s give him what he wants. Complete radio silence and eventually push him out.
Yes, Katherine Jenkins was dating in Harry’s circle, which is why I totally thought (back in like 2013 before she got with her hubby) she would make a play for Harry. I thought that’s what she was setting up. So I am surprised she never did. Or maybe she did make that play and he wasn’t interested. Who knows.
I would love if the press were to ignore The Petulant’s events. So him what it’s like when the press gives him what he wants and ignores him.
There was an article today from the Daily Mail about the Queen laying off staff. Intersting enough there were some negative comments about W &K having 2 houses.
Harry is a dead ringer for Charles around the eyes. Bam! There go the paternity theories out the window for sure.
Definitely Charles around the eyes. I’ve come to think Harry resembles Prince Philip, but with Spencer coloring.